In bottling and manufacturing operations, whether it be the bottling of food products, drinks, household or industrial cleaners, or other liquids and fluids, the operation of an efficient production facility often requires the ability to transport large numbers of bottles quickly, efficiently and inexpensively. Today, a very significant number of liquid products that are commercially produced are bottled and sold in plastic bottles, and most commonly polyethylene bottles.
A variety of different mechanisms and devices have been developed in order to permit bottlers, bottle manufacturers, and bottling facilities to transport bottles or containers to different stages throughout a bottling or manufacturing plant. One such device that has proven to provide an efficient and economical way to rapidly transport large numbers of plastic bottles is a pneumatic or air conveyor system. Such systems typically comprise a generally enclosed chamber or plenum having a pair of bottle neck supports mounted on its bottom surface from which a series of plastic bottles can be suspended. Adjacent to the bottle neck supports there is positioned a louver system that directs or diverts pressurized air from the interior of the plenum toward the bottles to effectively drive the bottles alone the length of the plenum and the conveyor system.
One of the primary difficulties encountered when utilizing pneumatic conveyor systems of the type described above is a vertical mis-alignment of plastic bottles as they are driven or transported along the length of the conveyor. A common reason for mis-alignment of the bottles is an improper positioning of the bottle neck supports. Typically the bottle neck supports are bolted to the bottom surface of the plenum, which in many cases in not perfectly perpendicular to the sides of the plenum, thereby causing the bottles to be tilted to one side or the other when traveling along the conveyor. Since pneumatic conveyors are often comprised of a large number of plenum sections the mis-alignment of the bottle neck supports may be different for subsequent or adjacent plenum sections. As a result, a bottle traveling along the length of a conveyor may be sporadically driven out of vertical alignment in opposite directions as it passes along the conveyor. The mis-alignment of bottles traveling along the conveyor results in a decrease in the efficiency in the number of bottles moved per unit time, and can also result in the jamminig or backing up of a series of bottles, particularly at corners or places along the conveyor where there is a significant change in the direction of transportation. During high speed transport, a mis-alignment of bottles can have dramatic consequences and cause a back-up or jamming effect, thereby reducing the overall throughput of the system.
To combat this problem others have utilized horizontal rails or bottle guides that extend downwardly from the sides of the plenum and that help to contain or limit the amount of vertical displacement of the bottles as they are transported. While such devices have met With some success, when a bottle is out of vertical alignment and contacts such guide mechanisms or rails there is an increased frictional resistance placed upon the linear movement of the bottle that has a tendency of reducing the conveyor's overall capacity. Excessive contact between the bottles and horizontal guide rails can also result in a marking or scoring of the exterior surface of the bottle. In addition, regardless of the use of horizontal guide rails, severely misaligned bottles may still jam and cause a stoppage of production.